NM school district restricts club meetings after gay-straight alliance formed

The Clovis, N.M. school board on Tuesday voted unanimously to end all non-curricular clubs from meeting during school hours after a gay-straight alliance applied to become a club.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico accused the district of changing its policy to stop the formation of the alliance at Clovis High School, but school officials said the timing of its decision was a coincidence, and that its policy was already under review.

“This sort of tactic has been used in the past by school districts to discourage gay-straight clubs from forming,” Micah McCoy, communications specialist for ACLU of New Mexico, said on Wednesday. “A lot of alarm bells went off when we saw this.”

Superintendent Terry Myers called the allegations “unfair.”

Non-curricular clubs, such as the gay-straight alliance, will now have to meet before or after school, while clubs deemed to be curricular can still meet during school hours. The non-curricular clubs will also be prohibited from using the school’s public announcement system to communicate with students.